Original title: The original musical “Singing at Midnight” opened its first round of resident performances in the performing arts world
On the evening of December 28, the Great Theater of China, which is adjacent to the first commercial street in China——Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, changed into a new “outfit” from the inside to the outside, and became a unique check-in point in the circle of friends. Retro light boxes and flashing neon lights bring people back to the streets and alleys of Shanghai in the past. The shouts of shops along the street and the ringing of bicycles passing by become the natural background music. The big screen. The uniqueness of this drama is that it uses “environmental drama” to connect culture, business and tourism, allowing the audience to perceive Shanghai’s unique cultural charm in one-stop viewing, checking in, and visiting time-honored brands.
A tribute to the classic movie of the same name, maximizing the release of the beauty of music
Speaking of “Singing at Midnight”, many people will think of the film directed by Ma Xu Weibang in 1937. Starring Jin Shan, Hu Ping, Shi Chao, etc., it premiered in Shanghai for 34 days and almost all the shows were sold out, setting a record at the box office.
The musical “Midnight Singing” pays tribute to the classic film of the same name, and continues to write this romantic, fantasy, and thrilling story that took place in the theater with original scripts and original music: In Shanghai in the early 20th century, Song Danping, Lu Die and Sun Xiaoou played in “The Glory of Grass” grew up together in an orphanage. When the theater in the orphanage was completed, three teenagers took part in a performance. Unexpectedly, the first performance was suddenly attacked by war, and the three were separated from then on. Ten years later, a new theater was completed on the original site of the orphanage. Ludie returned to the old place to play the leading role, and reunited with Sun Xiaoou who came to watch the play. Unexpectedly, this situation angered the “ghost” in the theater…
Focusing on “promise and reunion”, the musical “Midnight Singing” constructs a plot of “reconstruction, reunion, and rebirth”. Through destruction/disaster, chaos/suffering, sacrifice/salvation, it presents the bitterness and courage of fate, and the light and salt of life. As a musical work with almost no lines, “Singing at Midnight” is dominated by a large number of arias, and the music runs through the whole play, advancing the development of the story. Lyrics and music are undoubtedly the most important sections in this work. In the opinion of the composer Li Jingjian, “Singing at Midnight” must first write music with a dramatic structure to make it a real “drama”, rather than a joint singing of songs after songs; secondly, considering the nature of the musical itself and the Shanghai city According to the characteristics of the city, the overall structure of music and the design of harmony language should precede the writing of arias, that is, there must be harmony before melody.
Give full play to the geographical advantages of the theater and explore the cross-border integration of culture, business and tourism
Different from ordinary performances, the audience of “Singing at Midnight” entered the theater nearly an hour in advance, and in the public space on the upper and lower three floors of the Great Theater of China, they were the first to experience the old Shanghai style that has been preserved in time.
On the first floor of the theater, the retro shelves of “Midnight Shop” are particularly conspicuous, and under the flickering neon lights, the audience who purchase the cultural and creative derivatives of “Midnight Singing” are surrounded. On the second floor of the theater, the “Midnight Market” was unveiled simultaneously. Taikang, Cheng Yuxin, Shao Wansheng, Sanyang, Huang Longtai, Lao Datong and many other “national tide” time-honored brands with a history of one hundred years have settled in, allowing the audience to experience the elegance of the old theater while reminiscing about it. The smell of old days. On the third floor of the theater, the “Midnight Photo Studio” is unique. The audience specially put on cheongsam dresses, and came to the miniature “Old Photo Studio” to check in, and exquisite photos were born with the sound of shutters.
In fact, telling Shanghai-style cultural stories with vivid narrative means, extending the depth, breadth and thickness of the city’s cultural context, and forming a resonance with commerce and tourism, driving the joint development of surrounding catering, accommodation and other industries, is the musical “Midnight Singing” The original intention of birth. This time “Midnight Singing” was staged in the Grand Theater of China, connecting culture, commerce and tourism with “environmental drama”, and mobilizing the multi-dimensional sensory experience of audiences and tourists to the greatest extent around the “Midnight Singing” IP, such as hearing, vision, and touch. A deeper sense of immersion and interactivity is generated inside and outside the play, allowing the three-dimensional artistic scene to bring more artistic imagination to the citizens.
“The Performing Arts World has an innate foundation for the integration of culture, tourism and business. We take the China Grand Theater as the center and rely on the commercial endowment of Nanjing Road to build it into a natural, all-round and full of three-dimensional drama viewing experience area, creating a new The concept of immersive theater in natural neighborhoods.” said producer Xia Feng. The reporter learned that cultural, commercial and tourism projects such as Yeban Commercial Bank, Yemi Market, Yemi Photo Studio, and Yemi Tavern will be successively operated, and the theater’s functions will be expanded from performance operations to multiple functions such as brand releases, art exhibitions, leisure, catering and entertainment. , The theater will form a closer symbiotic relationship with other cultural and artistic formats and public spaces, better meet the spiritual and cultural needs of citizens and tourists, and form a new cooperation and operation model that can be replicated and promoted.
(Reporter Wang Xiaoli)